Wednesday 21st September 2016Many thanks to all our families for your continued support and encouragement during the last 18 months of building works. Although some works still remain, the St Nicholas Owen Building was officially opened on Wednesday 21st September by Bishop Nicholas Hudson, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and old boy of Donhead. I am grateful to those families who have commented so favourably on our new facilities and, of course, my hope is that they will further help every boy here to become the best that they can be.

Monday 3rd October 2016PP1 enjoyed a walk around Wimbledon Common on Monday afternoon, as part of their Geography Topic ‘The Local Area’. As well as familiarising themselves with local roads and key features we enjoyed the beautiful Autumn sunshine, collecting conkers and an iced lolly!

Tuesday 4th October 2016LP1 enjoyed their visit to the Wimbledon Bookfest event at the Big Tent on Wimbledon Common. The boys listened to an interesting talk by AF Harrold, author of the Fizzlebert Stump series.

Tuesday 4th October 2016Congratulations to those boys in LP1 and LP2 who performed so well at this term’s Concert for Solo Instrumentalists. It was the first time some of the soloists had ever played in front of an audience and they certainly did themselves proud!

Friday 7th October 2016LP1 visited Butser Farm, a reconstruction of a Celtic Hillfort. We were able to try our hand at archaeology and compare life in a Celtic roundhouse with life in a Roman villa. We smashed chalk to make clunch and helped to build a wall. We also made clay pots which we were able to bring back to school. It was a fascinating and informative day!

Thursday 13th October 2016To link with their Mexico Topic, PP2F had lots of fun making guacamole and tasting it! To link with our Literacy work on Instructions, they used 'bossy verbs' to write instructions on how to make it. Well done, boys.

Monday 17th October 2016Congratulations to all of the participants in the Prep School Ensembles Concert with Prep and Elements soloists. The Senior Choir, Brass Band, Guitar Group, the Donhead Trio and the Orchestra were so excited to be performing in the superb new Auditorium. The boys delighted the audience with such a varied programme (including a specially arranged version of the theme from Wallace and Gromit by our Brass teacher, Mr Mankarious) and the Elements and Prep soloists gave some outstanding performances.

Monday 17th & Tuesday 18th October 2016Donhead was pleased to host the wonderful 'Ignite!' Conference for the boys and girls from six Jesuit Schools this week. The purpose of the Conference was for the schools to learn a little bit more about each other and to explore how they could further develop their way of working as a Jesuit school. Thank you to our chaplain, Eileen Groenen, for organising the conference, Fr Paul Fletcher SJ for saying Mass in our new Chapel and the three former Donhead pupils (now at Wimbledon College) for helping out at the Conference. Semper Magis.

LP2 visit Hampton Court

Tuesday 18th October 2016LP2 enjoyed their visit to Hampton Court Palace on Tuesday. Whilst there, the boys had fun taking part in a workshop entitled ‘Playing the King’. Henry VIII wasn’t always a fat, old tyrant! Their drama session challenged the traditional stereotype of this iconic monarch, plotting his life from his early reign through to his final years as king. The boys also visited the Tudor Kitchens, where a costumed presenter shared with them how foods were stored, prepared, cooked and eaten at the palace in Henry VIII's time. They inspected the cooking utensils and some boys experienced the role of 'spit boy'!

Wednesday 19th October 2016The day began with a visit to the Great Map in the National Maritime Museum, where the boys explored the continents using the iPads to discover the world and answer questions. The boys enjoyed all that the museum had to offer, including the ship simulator and the ‘All hands children’s gallery,’ where they could explore maritime skills and technologies past and present, fire a cannon and shoot down a dastardly pirate ship in a brilliant interactive game. After lunch the boys enjoyed a workshop at the Cutty Sark where they discovered what life was like on board the real Cutty Sark, the world’s sole surviving tea clipper, and fastest ship of her time. The weather was good and the boys thoroughly enjoyed their day out in Greenwich.

Tuesday 1st November 2016The Hobgoblin Theatre Company visited Donhead on Tuesday to perform ‘The Wall’ - a play aboutthe life of Roman soldiers at Hadrian’s Wall. The boys enjoyed the play (which follows the History curriculum for LP1 this term) and were enthusiastic participants in the drama workshop that followed.

Thursday 3rd November 2016Thank you to all who attended this year's Fireworks Night and we hope everyone had a great time! Thanks also to all the class reps and volunteers for their help, with particular mention to Shakeel Khan for his amazing BBQ skills, and to both Kevin McArthur and Paula Turnbull for leading this event. Our appreciation also goes Coombe Residential for their continued sponsorship of this wonderful evening!

Tuesday 15th November 2016PP2 enjoyed a workshop from the Education Group. They looked at fossils from the different periods and pretended they were Palaeontologists for the day. They investigated carnivores and herbivore fossils. The boys even looked at some fossils that were 400 million years old! They had a great morning exploring!

Tuesday 22nd November 2016"The Elements winners of the ‘Carton de Wiart History Competition 2016’ attended a fun-filled Presentation Day and Workshop at The Oratory School in Reading on Tuesday. They explored different perceptions of the ‘hero’ in a History workshop and worked in teams to complete a challenging quiz! The boys were also given the opportunity to sample the sport of kings, and took part in a ‘Real Tennis’ taster session. Their day ended with a Presentation Ceremony to celebrate all of their efforts where they were treated to lots of goodies! Congratulations to the boys who were awarded 1st place, 3rd place and two who were awarded Highly Commended certificates. Our thanks go to Marcus Fec and the rest of the History Department at The Oratory, for organising such a wonderful day for us all."Miss Adelise Easter, History Subject Leader

PP2 visit the Natural History Museum

Wednesday 7th December 2016PP2 had a wonderful trip to the Natural History Museum and were able to learn more about dinosaurs and fossils. The trip into London on a brand new double decker coach and seeing the Christmas lights en route were also highlights of their day.

Friday 9th December 2016Today we had Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Save the Children. The boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Mrs Clark thanks all the boys and staff for taking part and the parents for their support in this cause.

PP2 Lighthouses

Tuesday 13th December 2016Donhead's Festival of Carols and Christmas Readings marks the beginning of the Christmas season for many of the families and friends of the school community. The readers and lantern bearers so enjoyed being part of the occasion, and the Donhead choirboys sang so beautifully. Well done to all of those who worked so hard in making this such a memorable evening.